Fujitsu Optical Components and Furukawa Electric to jointly develop integrated receivers for 40/100G networks
AUGUST 18, 2009 -- Fujitsu Optical Components Ltd. (search Lightwave for Fujitsu Optical Components) and Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd. (search Lightwave for Furukawa) have announced they will jointly develop 40- and 100-Gbps integrated receivers for optical networks.
Furukawa Electric is responsible for developing planar lightwave circuit (PLC) technology that reduces the size of integrated receivers. Fujitsu Optical Components is responsible for developing and commercializing the receiver utilizing integrated module technologies for PLC, high-speed photodiodes, and amplifier.
By speeding up its product development process, Fujitsu Optical Components says it will deliver compact, energy-efficient, and low-price integrated receivers for ultrahigh-speed optical networks. In strengthening PLC technology of the optical interferometric circuits for the receiver, Furukawa Electric will market the product as a key device for next-generation optical communications.
In recent years, the global expansion of new services such as cloud computing and online streaming has brought about a dramatic increase in data communications. As the data transmission volume of communications networks rises, optical transmission equipment for 40-Gbps backbone networks is being widely introduced. At the same time, R&D activities related to the commercialization of next-generation 100-Gbps optical networks have gained significant momentum.
However, due to advances in transmission speed, the components that constitute these optical transmission equipments are growing both in size and complexity. Larger equipment results in the need for larger installation space and higher power consumption. Meeting the demands of growing data communications while reducing environmental impact at the same time has become a major challenge for 40- and 100-Gbps optical transmission systems.
The multilevel modulation using phase modulation or digital coherent detection is being introduced into 40- and 100-Gbps optical transmissions compared with traditional on-off keying (OOK), since these are not easily affected by signal distortion and noise caused by transmission fibers. The receiver part for differential quadrature phase-shift keying (DQPSK) modulation transmitting 2 bits per symbol consists of the delay line interferometer and the balanced receivers, and the receiver part for dual-polarization quadrature phase-shift keying (DP-QPSK) modulation of digital coherent detect consists of 90° hybrid (optical mixer) and the balanced receivers, which are installed as discrete components that are connected by fibers. In the future, however, a receiver module that integrates the individual components is required in order to reduce the size and cost of 40- and 100-Gbps systems. Since the structures of delay line interferometer and optical mixer grow in complexity in DQPSK and DP-QPSK modulations, PLC technology -- which helps reduce their size, cost, and power consumption -- becomes useful.
The companies expect their joint development will result in processing and manufacturing advantages such as:
- design and mass-production technologies for a variety of advanced optical components ranging from devices such as LN modulator to DWDM full-band tunable 300-pin transponders, as well as PLC chips, such as optical splitter and arrayed-waveguide grating
- development and commercialization of processing technology with high refractive index difference (>1%), which contributes to reducing the size of PLC chips
- cutting-edge designs for reducing product size and cost, including the high-frequency design, device control, optics design, high-density mounting design, and thermal-independent technology for arrayed-waveguide grating
- high-level manufacturing technologies for mass-producing high-quality products, including the LN process, microassembly, and automatic adjustment and testing technique
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